Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The White Balance feature on the DSLR Cameras literally means to make it more white or dark, something like the contrast and brightness feature on our TV Box. Also denoted as WB, it actually has many usage for the avid novice photographer.Let's understand how it works.

The White Balance is used to determine the scenario the picture is taken, from Bright Daylight, to Cloudy to Shade to Orange / Yellow Light to florescent light to Flash Mode and to custom Mode.

It is also used alongside with the AV Value and without which the White Balance is useless.The AV is set at (0) as center reference point without adding or reducing the brightness of the photograph. It has values from -2,-1, 0 ,+1,+2 subdivided into further quarters for custom adjustment.

Here is a senario: Imagine you are taking a picture of the street party you just came past, and it's all under Incandescent Light or Yellow Orange Street Lamp. The people are moving and you don't have a steady hand. The Lighting is great to the naked eye, without the need of the flash,and you set it to the AV feature.

Snap One: Picture is set at White Balance Yellow Light. Comes out Dull. Some of the actions are blurred as people are moving. Your shutter takes about more than a second to snap the photograph. That is the typical photograph you get with Standard Orange Lamp